Women's March on Versailles

The Women's March on Versailles, also known as The October March, The October Days, or simply The March on Versailles, was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. The march began among women in the marketplaces of Paris who, on the morning of 5 October 1789, were near rioting over the high price and scarcity of bread, their demonstrations quickly became intertwined with the activities of revolutionaries, who were seeking liberal political reforms and a constitutional monarchy for France. The market women and their various allies grew into a mob of thousands. Encouraged by revolutionary agitators, they ransacked the city armory for weapons and marched to the Palace of Versailles, the crowd besieged the palace, and in a dramatic and violent confrontation, they successfully pressed their demands upon King Louis XVI. The next day, the crowd compelled the king, his family, and most of the French Assembly to return with them to Paris.

These events ended the king's independence and signified the change of power and reforms about to overtake France, the march symbolized a new balance of power that displaced the ancient privileged orders of the French nobility and favored the nation's common people, collectively termed the Third Estate. Bringing together people representing sources of the Revolution in their largest numbers yet, the march on Versailles proved to be a defining moment of that Revolution.

When the October journéesa took place, France's revolutionary decade, 1789–1799, had barely begun, the revolution's capacity for violence was as yet not fully realized. The storming of the Bastille had occurred less than three months earlier. Flush with newly discovered power, the common citizens of France – particularly in the teeming capital, Paris – felt a newly discovered desire to participate in politics and government, the poorest among them were almost exclusively concerned with the issue of food: most workers spent nearly half their income on bread. In the post-Bastille period, price inflation and severe shortages in Paris became commonplace, as did local incidents of violence in the marketplaces.[3]

The king's court and the deputies of the National Constituent Assembly were all in comfortable residence at the royal city of Versailles, where they were considering momentous changes to the French political system. Reformist deputies had managed to pass sweeping legislation in the weeks after the Bastille's fall, including the revolutionary August Decrees (which formally abolished most noble and clerical privileges) and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.[4] Now their attention was turned to the creation of a permanent constitution. Monarchists and conservatives of all degrees had thus far been unable to resist the surging strength of the reformers, but by September their positions were beginning, however slightly, to improve; in constitutional negotiations they were able to secure a legislative veto power for the king. Many of the reformers were left aghast by this, and further negotiations were hobbled by contentiousness.[5]

Quiet Versailles, the seat of royal power, was a stifling environment for reformers, their stronghold was in Paris. The bustling metropolis lay within walking distance, less than 21 kilometres (13 mi) to the northeast. The reformist deputies were well aware that the four hundred or more monarchist deputies were working to transfer the Assembly to the distant royalist city of Tours, a place even less hospitable to their efforts than Versailles.[6] Worse, many feared that the king, emboldened by the growing presence of royal troops, might simply dissolve the Assembly, or at least renege on the August decrees, the king was indeed considering this, and when on 18 September he issued a formal statement giving his approval to only a portion of the decrees, the deputies were incensed.[2] Stoking their anger even further, the king even stated on 4 October that he had reservations about the Declaration of the Rights of Man.[2]

Despite its post-revolutionary mythology, the march was not a spontaneous event.[7] Numerous calls for a mass demonstration at Versailles had already been made; the Marquis of Saint-Huruge, one of the popular orators of the Palais-Royal, had called for just such a march in August to evict the obstructionist deputies who, he claimed, were protecting the king's veto power.[8] Although his efforts were foiled, revolutionaries continued to hold onto the idea of a march on Versailles to compel the king to accept the Assembly's laws.[8][9] Speakers at the Palais-Royal mentioned it regularly throughout the next month,[10] creating enduring suspicions of the proprietor, Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.[11] The idea of a march on Versailles was widespread, and was even discussed in the pages of the Mercure de France (5 September 1789).[7] A menacing unrest was in the air,[12] and many nobles and foreigners fled the oppressive atmosphere.[13]

Following the mutiny of the French Guards a few hours before the storming of the Bastille, the only troops immediately available for the security of the palace at Versailles were the aristocratic Garde du Corps (Body Guard) and the Cent-Suisses (Hundred Swiss). Both were primarily ceremonial units and lacked the numbers and training to provide effective protection for the royal family and the government. Accordingly, the Flanders Regiment (a regular infantry regiment of the Royal Army) was ordered to Versailles in late September 1789 by the king's minister of war, the Comte de Saint-Priest, as a precautionary measure,[14] on 1 October, the officers at Versailles held a welcoming banquet for the officers of the new troops, a customary practice when a unit changed its garrison. The royal family briefly attended the affair, walking amongst the tables set up in the opera house of the palace. Outside, in the cour de marbre (central courtyard), the soldiers' toasts and oaths of fealty to the king grew more demonstrative as the night wore on.[13]

The lavish banquet was certain to be an affront to those suffering in a time of severe austerity, but it was reported in the L'Ami du peuple and other firebrand newspapers as nothing short of a gluttonous orgy. Worst of all, the papers all dwelt scornfully on the reputed desecration of the tricolorcockade; drunken officers were said to have stamped upon this symbol of the nation and professed their allegiance solely to the white cockade of the House of Bourbon. This embellished tale of the royal banquet became the source of intense public outrage.[14]

The women hailed by onlookers on their way to Versailles (illustration c. 1842)

On the morning of 5 October, a young woman struck a marching drum at the edge of a group of market-women who were infuriated by the chronic shortage and high price of bread, from their starting point in the markets of the eastern section of Paris then known as the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, the angry women forced a nearby church to toll its bells.[15] Their numbers continued to grow and with restless energy the group began to march. More women from other nearby marketplaces joined in, many bearing kitchen blades and other makeshift weapons, as the tocsins rang from church towers throughout several districts.[2] Driven by a variety of agitators, the mob converged on the Hôtel de Ville (the City Hall of Paris)b where they demanded not only bread, but arms.[2] As more and more women – and men – arrived, the crowd outside the city hall reached between six and seven thousand,[16] and perhaps as many as ten thousand.[11]

One of the men was the audacious Stanislas-Marie Maillard,[17] a prominent vainqueur of the Bastille,[18] who eagerly snatched up his own drum and led the infectious cry of "à Versailles!"[19] Maillard was a popular figure among the market-women,[17] and by unofficial acclamation was given a leadership role, although hardly a gentle man,c Maillard helped suppress by force of character the mob's worst instincts; he rescued the Hôtel de Ville's quartermaster, Pierre-Louis Lefebvre-Laroche, a priest commonly known as Abbé Lefebvre, who had been strung up on a lamppost for trying to safeguard its gunpowder storage.[17] The City Hall itself was ransacked as the crowd surged through taking its provisions and weapons, but Maillard helped prevent it from burning down the entire building; in due course, the rioters' attention turned again to Versailles, and they filtered back to the streets. Maillard deputized a number of women as group leaders and gave a loose sense of order to the proceedings as he led the crowd out of the city in the driving rain.[13][20]

As they left, thousands of National Guardsmen who had heard the news were assembling at the Place de Grève,[21] the Marquis de Lafayette, in Paris as their commander-in-chief, discovered to his dismay that his soldiers were largely in favor of the march and were being egged on by agitators to join in. Even though he was one of France's greatest war heroes, Lafayette could not dissuade his troops and they began threatening to desert. Rather than see them leave as another anarchic mob, the Parisian municipal government told Lafayette to guide their movements; they also instructed him to request that the king return voluntarily to Paris to satisfy the people. Sending a swift horseman forward to warn Versailles, Lafayette contemplated the near mutiny of his men: he was aware that many of them had openly promised to kill him if he did not lead or get out of the way,[22] at four o'clock in the afternoon, fifteen thousand guards with several thousand more civilian latecomers set off for Versailles. Lafayette reluctantly took his place at the head of their column, hoping to protect the king and public order.[23][24]

The hunger and despair of the market women was the original impetus for the march,[25] but what started as a search for bread soon took on a much more ambitious goal, the Hôtel de Ville had already opened its plentiful stores to the rioters, but they remained unsatisfied: they wanted not just one meal but the assurance that bread would once again be plentiful and cheap. Famine was a real and ever-present dread for the lower strata of the Third Estate, and rumors of an "aristocrats' plot" to starve the poor were rampant and readily believed.[2]

At the same time, there was common resentment against the reactionary attitudes prevailing in Court circles[16] even before the uproar sparked by the notorious banquet precipitated the political aspects of the march.[25][26] Deeper planners in the crowd spread the word that the king needed to dismiss his royal bodyguards entirely and replace them all with patriotic National Guardsmen, a line of argument that had a compelling resonance among Lafayette's soldiers.[17]

These two popular goals coalesced around a third that was largely the revolutionaries' idea, which was that the king and his court, and the Assembly as well, must all be moved to Paris to reside among the people. Only then would the foreign soldiers be expelled, food be reliably available, and France served by a leader who was "in communion with his own people", the plan appealed to all segments of the crowd. Even those who were innocently supportive of the monarchy (and there were many among the women) felt the idea of bringing home le bon papa was a good and comforting plan, for revolutionaries, the preservation of their recent legislation and the creation of a constitution were paramount, and a lockdown of the king within reformist Paris would provide the best possible environment for the Revolution to succeed.[27]

The crowd traveled the distance from Paris to Versailles in about six hours, among their makeshift weaponry they dragged along several cannons taken from the Hôtel de Ville.[2] Boisterous and energetic, they recruited (or impressed into service) more and more followers as they surged out of Paris in the autumn rain; in their ambiguous but always aggressive poissard slang,d they chattered enthusiastically about bringing the king back home.[28] Less affectionately, they spoke of the queen, Marie Antoinette, and many had no restraint in calling for her death.[29]

When the crowd finally reached Versailles, it was met by another group that had assembled from the surrounding area.[23] Members of the Assembly greeted the marchers and invited Maillard into their hall, where he fulminated about the Flanders Regiment and the people's need for bread, as he spoke, the restless Parisians came pouring into the Assembly and sank exhausted on the deputies' benches. Hungry, fatigued, and bedraggled from the rain, they seemed to confirm that the siege was a simple demand for food, the unprotected deputies had no choice but to receive the marchers, who shouted down most of the speakers and demanded to hear from the popular reformist deputy Mirabeau.[30] The great orator declined this chance at demagoguery but nonetheless mingled familiarly with the market women, even sitting for some time with one of them upon his knee.[31] A few other deputies welcomed the marchers warmly, including Maximilien Robespierre who was still at that time a relatively obscure figure in politics. Robespierre gave strong words of support to the women and their plight, and his efforts were received appreciatively; his solicitations helped greatly to soften the crowd's hostility towards the Assembly.[32]

With few other options available to him, the President of the Assembly, Jean Joseph Mounier, accompanied a deputation of market-women into the palace to see the king.[33][34] A group of six women nominated by the crowd were escorted into the king's apartment, where they told him of the crowd's privations, the king responded sympathetically, and using all his charm impressed the women to the point that one of them fainted at his feet.[31] After this brief but pleasant meeting, arrangements were made to disburse some food from the royal stores, with more promised,[35] and some in the crowd felt that their goals had been satisfactorily met,[34] as rain once again began to pelt Versailles, Maillard and a small cluster of market women trooped triumphantly back to Paris.[36]

Most of the crowd, however, remained unpacified, they milled around the palace grounds with rumors abounding that the women's deputation had been duped – the queen would inevitably force the king to break any promises that had been made.[37] Well aware of the surrounding dangers, Louis discussed the situation with his advisors, at about six o'clock in the evening, the king made a belated effort to quell the rising tide of insurrection: he announced that he would accept the August decrees and the Declaration of the Rights of Man without qualification.[34] Adequate preparations to defend the palace were not made, however: the bulk of the royal guards, who had been deployed under arms in the main square for several hours facing a hostile crowd, was withdrawn to the far end of the park of Versailles; in the words of one of the officers: "Everyone was overwhelmed with sleep and lethargy, we thought it was all over."[38]

Late in the evening, Lafayette's national guardsmen approached up the Avenue de Paris. Lafayette immediately left his troops and went to see the king, grandly announcing himself with the declaration, "I have come to die at the feet of Your Majesty".[39] Outside, an uneasy night was spent in which his Parisian guardsmen mingled with the marchers, and the two groups sounded each other out. Many in the crowd persuasively denounced Lafayette as a traitor, complaining of his resistance to leaving Paris and the slowness of his march.[40] By the first light of morning, an alliance of the national guards and the women was evident, and as the crowd's vigor was restored, their roughneck poissard clamoring resumed.[41]

At about six o'clock in the morning, some of the protesters discovered a small gate to the palace was unguarded. Making their way inside, they searched for the queen's bedchamber, the royal guards raced throughout the palace, bolting doors and barricading hallways and those in the compromised sector, the cour de marbre, fired their guns at the intruders, killing a young member of the crowd.[37] Infuriated, the rest surged towards the breach and streamed inside.[42]

Two guardsmen, Miomandre and Tardivet, each separately attempted to face down the crowd and were overpowered.[42]e The violence boiled over into savagery as Tardivet's head was shorn off and raised aloft on a pike,[43] as battering and screaming filled the halls around her, the queen ran barefoot with her ladies to the king's bedchamber and spent several agonizing minutes banging on its locked door, unheard above the din.[43] In a close brush with death, they barely escaped through the doorway in time.[42][43]

The chaos continued as other royal guards were found and beaten; at least one more was killed and his head too appeared atop a pike.[44] Finally, the fury of the attack subsided enough to permit some communication between the former French Guards, who formed the professional core of Lafayette's National Guard militia, and the royal gardes du corps, the units had a history of cooperation and a military sense of mutual respect, and Lafayette, who had been snatching a few hours of sleep in his exhaustion, awoke to make the most of it. To the relief of the royals, the two sets of soldiers were reconciled by his charismatic mediation and a tenuous peace was established within the palace.[44][45]

Although the fighting ceased and the two commands of troops had cleared the palace, the mob was still everywhere outside, the rank and file of both the Flanders Regiment and another regular unit present, the Montmorency Dragoons, now appeared unwilling to act against the people.[46] Lafayette, who had earned the court's indebtedness, convinced the king to address the crowd. When the two men stepped out on a balcony an unexpected cry went up: "Vive le Roi!"[47] The relieved king briefly conveyed his willingness to return to Paris, acceding "to the love of my good and faithful subjects", as the crowd cheered, Lafayette stoked their joy by dramatically pinning a tricolor cockade to the hat of the king's nearest bodyguard.[48]

After the king withdrew, the exultant crowd would not be denied the same accord from the queen, and her presence was demanded loudly. Lafayette brought her to the same balcony, accompanied by her young son and daughter, the crowd ominously shouted for the children to be taken away, and it seemed the stage might be set for a regicide. Yet, as the queen stood with her hands crossed over her chest, the crowd – some of whom had muskets leveled in her direction – warmed to her courage. Amid this unlikely development, Lafayette cannily let the mob's fury drain away until, with dramatic timing and flair, he knelt reverently and kissed her hand, the demonstrators responded with a muted respect, and many even raised a cheer which the queen had not heard for quite a long time: "Vive la Reine!"[48]

The goodwill generated by this surprising turn of events defused the situation, but to many observers the scene on the balcony was mere theatricality without long-term resonance,[18][24] however pleased it may have been by the royal displays, the crowd insisted that the king come back with them to Paris.[18]

At about one o'clock in the afternoon of 6 October 1789, the vast throng escorted the royal family and a complement of one hundred deputies back to the capital, this time with the armed National Guards leading the way.[18] By now the mass of people had grown to over sixty thousand, and the return trip took about nine hours,[49] the procession could seem merry at times, as guardsmen hoisted up loaves of bread stuck on the tips of their bayonets, and some of the market women rode gleefully astride the captured cannon.[35] Yet, even as the crowd sang pleasantries about their "Good Papa", their violent mentality could not be misread; celebratory gunshots flew over the royal carriage and some marchers even carried pikes bearing the heads of the slaughtered Versailles guards.[50] A sense of victory over the ancien régime was imbued in the parade, and it was understood by all that the king was now fully at the service of the people.[51]

No one understood this so viscerally as the king himself, after arriving at the dilapidated Tuileries Palace, abandoned since the reign of Louis XIV, he was asked for his orders and he replied with uncharacteristic diffidence, "Let everyone put himself where he pleases!" Then, with a sullen poignancy, he asked for a history of the deposed Charles I of England to be brought from the library.[51]

The rest of the National Constituent Assembly followed the king within two weeks to new quarters in Paris; in short order, the entire body settled in only a few steps from the Tuileries at a former riding school, the Salle du Manège.[18] However, some fifty-six monarchien deputies did not come with them, believing the mob threat in the capital to be personally dangerous,[53] the October journées thus effectively deprived the monarchist faction of significant representation in the Assembly[54] as most of these deputies retreated from the political scene; many, like Mounier, fled the country altogether.[54]

Conversely, Robespierre's impassioned defense of the march raised his public profile considerably, the episode gave him a lasting heroic status among the poissardes and burnished his reputation as a patron of the poor. His later rise to become virtual dictator of the Revolution was greatly facilitated by his actions during the occupation of the Assembly.[32]

Lafayette, though initially acclaimed, found that he had tied himself too closely to the king, as the Revolution progressed, he was hounded into exile by the radical leadership. Maillard returned to Paris with his status as a local hero made permanent, he participated in several later journées, but in 1794 became stricken with illness, dying at the age of thirty-one.[55] For the women of Paris, the march became the source of apotheosis in revolutionary hagiography, the "Mothers of the Nation" were highly celebrated upon their return, and they would be praised and solicited by successive Parisian governments for years to come.[56]

King Louis XVI was officially welcomed to Paris with a respectful ceremony held by mayor Jean Sylvain Bailly, his return was touted as a momentous turning point in the Revolution, by some even as its end. Optimistic observers such as Camille Desmoulins declared that France would now enter a new golden age, with its revived citizenry and popular constitutional monarchy.[54] Others were more wary, such as journalist Jean-Paul Marat, who wrote:

It is a source of great rejoicing for the good people of Paris to have their king in their midst once again, his presence will very quickly do much to change the outward appearance of things, and the poor will no longer die of starvation. But this happiness would soon vanish like a dream if we did not ensure that the sojourn of the Royal Family in our midst lasted until the Constitution was ratified in every aspect. L'Ami du Peuple shares the jubilation of its dear fellow citizens, but it will remain ever vigilant.

It would take almost two full years until the first French Constitution was signed on 3 September 1791, and it required another popular intervention to make it happen. Louis attempted to work within the framework of his limited powers after the women's march but won little support, and he and the royal family remained virtual prisoners in the Tuileries. Desperate, he made his abortive flight to Varennes in June 1791. Attempting to escape and join up with royalist armies, the king was once again captured by a mixture of citizens and national guardsmen who hauled him back to Paris. Permanently disgraced, Louis was forced to accept a constitution more denuding of his kingship than any previously put forward, the spiral of decline in the king's fortunes culminated at the guillotine in 1793.[57]

Even while the women were marching, suspicious eyes looked upon Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, already behind the July uprisings, as being somehow responsible for the event. The Duke, a cousin of Louis XVI, was an energetic proponent of constitutional monarchy, and it was an open secret that he felt himself to be uniquely qualified to be king under such a system. Though allegations of his specific actions concerning the October march remain largely unproven, he has long been considered a significant instigator of the events,[53][58] the Duke was certainly present as a deputy to the Assembly, and he was described by contemporaries as smiling warmly as he walked among the protesters at the height of the siege; many of them are said to have hailed him with greetings like "Here is our king! Long live King Orléans!"[40] Many scholars believe that the Duke paid agents provocateurs to fan the discontent in the marketplaces and to conflate the women's march for bread with the drive to bring the king back to Paris.[15] Others suggest he coordinated in some way with Mirabeau, the Assembly's most powerful statesman at the time, to use the marchers to advance the constitutionalist agenda.[59] Still others go so far as to assert that the crowd was guided by such important Orléanist allies as Antoine Barnave, Choderlos de Laclos, and the duc d'Aiguillon, all dressed as poissardes in women's clothes.[60] Yet most of the Revolution's foremost histories describe any involvement of the Duke as ancillary to the action, efforts of opportunism that neither created nor defined the October march,f the Duke was investigated by the crown for complicity and none was proven.[61] Still, the pall of suspicion helped convince him to take on Louis XVI's offer of a diplomatic mission conveniently outside the country,[53] he returned to France the following summer and resumed his place in the Assembly where both he and Mirabeau were officially exonerated of any misdeeds regarding the march.[61] As the Revolution moved forward into the Terror, the Duke's royal lineage and alleged avarice convicted him in the minds of radical leaders and he was sent to his execution in November 1793.[62]

The women's march was a signal event of the French Revolution, its impact on par with the fall of the Bastille.[51][63][64] For its inheritors, the march would stand as an inspirational example, emblematic of the power of popular movements, the occupation of the deputies' benches in the Assembly created a template for the future, forecasting the mob rule that would frequently influence successive Parisian governments.[24] But it was the crudely decisive invasion of the palace itself that was most momentous; the attack removed forever the aura of invincibility that once cloaked the monarchy. It marked the end of the king's resistance to the tide of reform, and he made no further open attempts to push back the Revolution,[65] as one historian states, it was "one of those defeats of royalty from which it never recovered".[24]

^ a:Journée (literally, "[events of the] day") is used frequently in French accounts of the Revolution to denote any episode of popular uprising: thus the women's march is known most commonly in French as the "October Days". English historians have favored more descriptive names for the episodes, and the majority (see Doyle, Schama, Hibbert, Wright, Dawson, et al.) employ some variation of the phrase "women's march" in recognition of the market women's prominence as the vanguard of the action.

^ c: Carlyle repeatedly refers to him as "cunning Maillard" or "shifty Maillard".

^ d:Poissarde (plural poissardes), literally "fishwife", was a contemporary general term for women of the working class. Derived from the French poix (pitch, tar), it is synonymous with their highly stylized urban slang.[28]

^ e: Miomandre was left for dead but survived to become a royalist hero. Schama's index gives his full name as François Aimé Miomandre de Sainte-Marie. Carlyle gives the second guard's name as Tardivet du Repaire.

^ f: Some writers, such as Hibbert and Webster, impute significant influence to the Duke; most authoritative historians of the Revolution give him much less emphasis. Lefebvre and Soboul describe Orléanist activity as garden-variety political manœuvres that would have been ineffective without the compelling economic circumstances that motivated the commoners. Carlyle, Michelet, and Rose paint his influence as shadowy and malign, but without resonant success. Schama and Doyle, by their absence of focus, depict him as largely irrelevant to the situation.

1.
French Revolution
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Through the Revolutionary Wars, it unleashed a wave of global conflicts that extended from the Caribbean to the Middle East. Historians widely regard the Revolution as one of the most important events in human history, the causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt, Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789, a central event of the first stage, in August 1789, was the abolition of feudalism and the old rules and privileges left over from the Ancien Régime. The next few years featured political struggles between various liberal assemblies and right-wing supporters of the intent on thwarting major reforms. The Republic was proclaimed in September 1792 after the French victory at Valmy, in a momentous event that led to international condemnation, Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. External threats closely shaped the course of the Revolution, internally, popular agitation radicalised the Revolution significantly, culminating in the rise of Maximilien Robespierre and the Jacobins. Large numbers of civilians were executed by revolutionary tribunals during the Terror, after the Thermidorian Reaction, an executive council known as the Directory assumed control of the French state in 1795. The rule of the Directory was characterised by suspended elections, debt repudiations, financial instability, persecutions against the Catholic clergy, dogged by charges of corruption, the Directory collapsed in a coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799. The modern era has unfolded in the shadow of the French Revolution, almost all future revolutionary movements looked back to the Revolution as their predecessor. The values and institutions of the Revolution dominate French politics to this day, the French Revolution differed from other revolutions in being not merely national, for it aimed at benefiting all humanity. Globally, the Revolution accelerated the rise of republics and democracies and it became the focal point for the development of all modern political ideologies, leading to the spread of liberalism, radicalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and secularism, among many others. The Revolution also witnessed the birth of total war by organising the resources of France, historians have pointed to many events and factors within the Ancien Régime that led to the Revolution. Over the course of the 18th century, there emerged what the philosopher Jürgen Habermas called the idea of the sphere in France. A perfect example would be the Palace of Versailles which was meant to overwhelm the senses of the visitor and convince one of the greatness of the French state and Louis XIV. Starting in the early 18th century saw the appearance of the sphere which was critical in that both sides were active. In France, the emergence of the public sphere outside of the control of the saw the shift from Versailles to Paris as the cultural capital of France. In the 1750s, during the querelle des bouffons over the question of the quality of Italian vs, in 1782, Louis-Sébastien Mercier wrote, The word court no longer inspires awe amongst us as in the time of Louis XIV

2.
Constitutional monarchy
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A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the sovereign exercises their authorities in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution. A constitutional monarchy may refer to a system in which the acts as a non-party political head of state under the constitution. Political scientist Vernon Bogdanor, paraphrasing Thomas Macaulay, has defined a constitutional monarch as a sovereign who reigns, in addition to acting as a visible symbol of national unity, a constitutional monarch may hold formal powers such as dissolving parliament or giving royal assent to legislation. Many constitutional monarchies still retain significant authorities or political influence however, such as through certain reserve powers, the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms are all constitutional monarchies in the Westminster tradition of constitutional governance. Three states – Malaysia, Cambodia and the Holy See – are elective monarchies, the oldest constitutional monarchy dating back to ancient times was that of the Hittites. These were scattered noble families that worked as representatives of their subjects in an adjutant or subaltern federal-type landscape, the most recent country to move from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy was Bhutan, between 2007 and 2008. At the same time, in Scotland the Convention of Estates enacted the Claim of Right Act 1689, although Queen Anne was the last monarch to veto an Act of Parliament when in 1707 she blocked the Scottish Militia Bill, Hanoverian monarchs continued to selectively dictate government policies. For instance George III constantly blocked Catholic Emancipation, eventually precipitating the resignation of William Pitt the Younger as Prime Minister in 1801, Queen Victoria was the last monarch to exercise real personal power but this diminished over the course of her reign. In 1839 she became the last sovereign to keep a Prime Minister in power against the will of Parliament when the Bedchamber crisis resulted in the retention of Lord Melbournes administration, today, the role of the British monarch is by convention effectively ceremonial. No person may accept significant public office without swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen, with few exceptions, the monarch is bound by constitutional convention to act on the advice of the Government. Constitutional monarchy also occurred briefly in the years of the French Revolution. As originally conceived, a monarch was head of the executive branch and quite a powerful figure even though his or her power was limited by the constitution. In many cases the monarchs, while still at the top of the political and social hierarchy, were given the status of servants of the people to reflect the new. In the course of Frances July Monarchy, Louis-Philippe I was styled King of the French rather than King of France, following the Unification of Germany, Otto von Bismarck rejected the British model. However this model of constitutional monarchy was discredited and abolished following Germanys defeat in the First World War. Later, Fascist Italy could also be considered as a constitutional monarchy and this eventually discredited the Italian monarchy and led to its abolition in 1946. After the Second World War, surviving European monarchies almost invariably adopted some variant of the constitutional monarchy model originally developed in Britain, nowadays a parliamentary democracy that is a constitutional monarchy is considered to differ from one that is a republic only in detail rather than in substance. However, three important factors distinguish monarchies such as the United Kingdom from systems where greater power might otherwise rest with Parliament, other privileges may be nominal or ceremonial

3.
Palace of Versailles
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The Palace of Versailles, Château de Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. Versailles is therefore not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. First built by Louis XIII in 1623, as a lodge of brick and stone. The first phase of the expansion was designed and supervised by the architect Louis Le Vau and it culminated in the addition of three new wings of stone, which surrounded Louis XIIIs original building on the north, south, and west. After Le Vaus death in 1670, the work was taken over and completed by his assistant, charles Le Brun designed and supervised the elaborate interior decoration, and André Le Nôtre landscaped the extensive Gardens of Versailles. Le Brun and Le Nôtre collaborated on the fountains, and Le Brun supervised the design. During the second phase of expansion, two enormous wings north and south of the wings flanking the Cour Royale were added by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. He also replaced Le Vaus large terrace, facing the garden on the west, with became the most famous room of the palace. The Royal Chapel of Versailles, located at the end of the north wing, was begun by Mansart in 1688. One of the most baffling aspects to the study of Versailles is the cost – how much Louis XIV, owing to the nature of the construction of Versailles and the evolution of the role of the palace, construction costs were essentially a private matter. Initially, Versailles was planned to be a residence for Louis XIV and was referred to as the kings house. Once Louis XIV embarked on his campaigns, expenses for Versailles became more of a matter for public record. To counter the costs of Versailles during the years of Louis XIVs personal reign. Accordingly, all materials that went into the construction and decoration of Versailles were manufactured in France, even the mirrors used in the decoration of the Hall of Mirrors were made in France. While Venice in the 17th century had the monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors, to meet the demands for decorating and furnishing Versailles, Colbert nationalised the tapestry factory owned by the Gobelin family, to become the Manufacture royale des Gobelins. In 1667, the name of the enterprise was changed to the Manufacture royale des Meubles de la Couronne, the Comptes meticulously list the expenditures on the silver furniture – disbursements to artists, final payments, delivery – as well as descriptions and weight of items purchased. Entries for 1681 and 1682 concerning the silver used in the salon de Mercure serve as an example. 5 In anticipation, For the silver balustrade for the bedroom,90,000 livres II

4.
King Louis XVI
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Louis XVI, born Louis-Auguste, was the last King of France and Navarre before the French Revolution, during which he was also known as Louis Capet. In 1765, at the death of his father, Louis, Dauphin of France, son and heir apparent of Louis XV of France, Louis XVI was guillotined on 21 January 1793. The first part of his reign was marked by attempts to reform France in accordance with Enlightenment ideas and these included efforts to abolish serfdom, remove the taille, and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics. The French nobility reacted to the reforms with hostility. Louis implemented deregulation of the market, advocated by his liberal minister Turgot. In periods of bad harvests, it would lead to food scarcity which would prompt the masses to revolt, from 1776, Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists, who were seeking their independence from Great Britain, which was realized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the Ancien Régime and this led to the convening of the Estates-General of 1789. In 1789, the storming of the Bastille during riots in Paris marked the beginning of the French Revolution. Louiss indecisiveness and conservatism led some elements of the people of France to view him as a symbol of the tyranny of the Ancien Régime. The credibility of the king was deeply undermined, and the abolition of the monarchy, Louis XVI was the only King of France ever to be executed, and his death brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Louis-Auguste de France, who was given the title Duc de Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles. Out of seven children, he was the son of Louis, the Dauphin of France. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. A strong and healthy boy, but very shy, Louis-Auguste excelled in his studies and had a taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy. He enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather, and rough-playing with his brothers, Louis-Stanislas, comte de Provence. From an early age, Louis-Auguste had been encouraged in another of his hobbies, locksmithing, upon the death of his father, who died of tuberculosis on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin. His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband, and died on 13 March 1767, throughout his education, Louis-Auguste received a mixture of studies particular to religion, morality, and humanities. His instructors may have also had a hand in shaping Louis-Auguste into the indecisive king that he became

5.
National Constituent Assembly (France)
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The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789 during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly, the Estates-General of 1789, made up of representatives of the three estates, which had not been convoked since 1614, convened on 5 May 1789. The Estates-General reached a deadlock in its deliberations by 6 May, the representatives of the Third Estate attempted to make the whole body more effective and so met separately from 11 May as the Communes. On 12 June, the Communes invited the other Estates to join them, on 17 June 1789, the Communes approved the motion made by Sieyès that declared themselves the National Assembly by a vote of 490 to 90. The Third Estate now believed themselves to be an authority equal to that of the King. A legislative and political agenda unfolded, there were soon attempts by King Louis XVI and the Second Estate to prevent the delegates from meeting, as well as misunderstandings on both sides about each others intentions. Failing to disperse the delegates, Louis started to recognize their validity on 27 June, the Assembly renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July and began to function as a governing body and a constitution-drafter. However, it is common to refer to the body even after then as the National Assembly or the Constituent Assembly, following the storming of the Bastille on 14 July, the National Constituent Assembly became the effective government of France. In the words of historian François Mignet, The assembly had acquired the power, the corporations depended on it. The royal power, though existing of right, was in a suspended, since it was not obeyed. The number of the Estates-General increased significantly during the election period, according to Timothy Tackett, there were a total of 1,177 deputies in the Assembly by mid-July 1789. Among them,278 belonged to the nobility,295 to the clergy, for the entire duration of the Assembly, a total of 1,315 deputies were certified,330 clerics,322 nobles, and 663 deputies of the Third Estate. Tackett noted that the majority of the Second Estate had a background. In the early period, its most notable leaders included Honoré Mirabeau, the Marquis de Lafayette, lameths brother Charles also belonged to this group. For a partial list of members of the National Constituent Assembly, in the summer of 1791, the National Constituent Assembly decided that the king needed to be restored to the throne if he accepted the constitution. The decision was made after the failed attempt to flee to Varennes. That decision enraged many Parisians into protesting, and one major protest devolved into the Champ de Mars Massacre, after surviving the vicissitudes of a revolutionary two years, the National Constituent Assembly dissolved itself on 30 September 1791. The following day, the Constitution of 1791 went into effect and this article incorporates text from the public domain History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814, by François Mignet, as made available by Project Gutenberg

6.
French nobility
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The French nobility was a privileged social class in France during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period to the revolution in 1790. The nobility was revived in 1805 with limited rights as an elite class from the First Empire to the fall of the July Monarchy in 1848. Hereditary titles, without privileges, continued to be granted until the Second Empire fell in 1870 and they survive among their descendants as a social convention and as part of the legal name of the corresponding individuals. In the political system of pre-Revolutionary France, the nobility made up the Second Estate of the Estates General, although membership in the noble class was mainly inherited, it was not a fully closed order. New individuals were appointed to the nobility by the monarchy, or they could purchase rights and titles, sources differ about the actual number of nobles in France, however, proportionally, it was among the smallest noble classes in Europe. For the year 1789, French historian François Bluche gives a figure of 140,000 nobles and states that about 5% of nobles could claim descent from feudal nobility before the 15th century, with a total population of 28 million, this would represent merely 0. 5%. Historian Gordon Wright gives a figure of 300,000 nobles, in terms of land holdings, at the time of the revolution, noble estates comprised about one-fifth of the land. The French nobility had specific legal and financial rights and prerogatives, the first official list of these prerogatives was established relatively late, under Louis XI after 1440, and included the right to hunt, to wear a sword and, in principle, to possess a seigneurie. Nobles were also granted an exemption from paying the taille, except for lands they might possess in some regions of France. Furthermore, certain ecclesiastic, civic, and military positions were reserved for nobles and these feudal privileges are often termed droits de féodalité dominante. With the exception of a few isolated cases, serfdom had ceased to exist in France by the 15th century, in early modern France, nobles nevertheless maintained a great number of seigneurial privileges over the free peasants that worked lands under their control. They could, for example, levy the tax, an annual tax on lands leased or held by vassals. Nobles could also charge banalités for the right to use the lords mills, ovens, alternatively, a noble could demand a portion of vassals harvests in return for permission to farm land he owned. In the 17th century this system was established in Frances North American possessions. However, the also had responsibilities. Nobles were required to honor, serve, and counsel their king and they were often required to render military service. The rank of noble was forfeitable, certain activities could cause dérogeance, most commercial and manual activities were strictly prohibited, although nobles could profit from their lands by operating mines and forges. The nobility in France was never a closed class

7.
Estates of the realm
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The estates of the realm were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom from the medieval period to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and evolved over time, the best known system is the French Ancien Régime, a three-estate system used until the French Revolution. Monarchy was for the king and the queen and this system was made up of clergy, nobles, furthermore, the non-landowning poor could be left outside the estates, leaving them without political rights. In England, a system evolved that combined nobility and bishops into one lordly estate with commons as the second estate. This system produced the two houses of parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, in southern Germany, a three-estate system of nobility, ritters, and burghers was used. Today the term Fourth Estate usually refers to forces outside the power structure. Historically, in Northern and Eastern Europe, the Fourth Estate meant rural commoners, during the Middle Ages individuals were born into their class and change in social position was difficult. The medieval Church was the institution where social mobility was most likely up to a certain level, typically, however, only nobility were appointed to the highest church positions, although low nobility could aspire to the highest church positions. Another possible way to rise in position was due to exceptional military or commercial success. Such families were rare and their rise to nobility required royal patronage at some point, medieval political speculation is imbued to the marrow with the idea of a structure of society based upon distinct orders, Johan Huizinga observes. There are, first of all, the estates of the realm, but there are also the trades, the state of matrimony and that of virginity, at court there are the four estates of the body and mouth, bread-masters, cup-bearers, carvers, and cooks. In the Church there are orders and monastic orders. Finally there are the different orders of chivalry and this static view of society was predicated on inherited positions. Commoners were universally considered the lowest order, a persons estate and position within it were usually inherited from the father and his occupation, similar to a caste within that system. In many regions and realms there also existed population groups born outside these specifically defined resident estates, legislative bodies or advisory bodies to a monarch were traditionally grouped along lines of these estates, with the monarch above all three estates. Meetings of the estates of the realm became early legislative and judicial parliaments, monarchs often sought to legitimize their power by requiring oaths of fealty from the estates. Today, in most countries, the estates have lost all their legal privileges, one of the earliest political pamphlets to address these ideas was called What Is the Third Estate. It was written by Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès in January 1789, the struggle over investiture and the reform movement also legitimized all secular authorities, partly on the grounds of their obligation to enforce discipline

8.
Causes of the French Revolution
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Financial, Frances debt, aggravated by French involvement in the American Revolution, led Louis XVI to implement new taxations and to reduce privileges. Political, Louis XVI faced virulent opposition from provincial parlements which were the spearheads of the privileged classes resistance to royal reforms, economic, The deregulation of the grain market, advocated by liberal economists, resulted in an increase in bread prices. In period of bad harvests, it would lead to food scarcity which would prompt the masses to revolt, all these factors created a revolutionary atmosphere and a tricky situation for Louis XVI. The essence of the situation which existed in France in the 1780s was the bankruptcy of the king. This economic crisis was due to the increasing costs of government. These costs could not be met from the sources of state revenue. Since the 1770s, several attempts by different ministers to introduce financial stability had failed, the taxation system was burdensome upon the middle class and the more prosperous peasants, given that the nobles were largely able to exempt themselves from it. As a result, there was an insistent demand for reform of abuses of privilege, for an equitable means of taxation. The population of France in the 1780s was about 26 million, few of these owned enough land to support a family and most were forced to take on extra work as poorly paid labourers on larger farms. There were regional differences but, by and large, French peasants were better off than those in countries like Russia or Poland. Even so, hunger was a problem which became critical in years of poor harvest. The clergy numbered about 100,000 and yet they owned 10% of the land, the Catholic Church maintained a rigid hierarchy as abbots and bishops were all members of the nobility and canons were all members of wealthy bourgeois families. As an institution, it was rich and powerful. As with the nobility, it paid no taxes and merely contributed a grant to the state five years. The upper echelons of the clergy had considerable influence over government policy, dislike of the nobility was especially intense. The American Revolution demonstrated that it was plausible for Enlightenment ideas about how a government should be organized to actually be put into practice. Some American diplomats, like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, had lived in Paris, furthermore, contact between American revolutionaries and the French troops who served in North America helped spread revolutionary ideas to the French people. France in 1787, although it faced difficulties, was one of the most economically capable nations of Europe

9.
Deregulation
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Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the undoing or repeal of governmental regulation of the economy, opposition to deregulation may usually involve apprehension regarding environmental pollution and environmental quality standards, financial uncertainty, and constraining monopolies. Regulatory reform is a parallel development alongside deregulation, Regulatory reform refers to organized and ongoing programs to review regulations with a view to minimizing, simplifying, and making them more cost effective. Cost–benefit analysis is used in such reviews. In addition, there have been regulatory innovations, usually suggested by economists, Deregulation can be distinguished from privatization, where privatization can be seen as taking state-owned service providers into the private sector. Argentina underwent heavy economic deregulation, privatization, and had an exchange rate during the Menem administration. In Dec.2001, Paul Krugman compared Enron with Argentina, two months later, Herbert Inhaber claimed that Krugman confused correlation with causation, and neither collapse was due to excessive deregulation. Having announced a range of deregulatory policies, Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke announced the policy of Minimum Effective Regulation in 1986. This introduced now familiar requirements for regulatory impact statements, but compliance by governmental agencies took many years, the labour market under the Hawke/Keating Labor governments operated under an accord. John Howards Liberal Party of Australia in 1996 began deregulation of the labor market, however, it was reversed under the following Rudd Labor government. Natural gas is deregulated in most of the country, with the exception of some Atlantic provinces and some pockets like Vancouver Island, most of this deregulation happened in the mid-1980s. There is price comparison service operating in some of these jurisdictions, particularly Ontario, Alberta, the other provinces are small markets and have not attracted suppliers. Customers have the choice of purchasing from a distribution company or a deregulated supplier. In most provinces the LDC is not allowed to offer a term contract, LDC prices are changed either monthly or quarterly. The province of Ontario began deregulation of electricity supply in 2002, the government is still searching for a stable working regulatory framework. The current status is a partially regulated structure in which consumers have received a price for a portion of the publicly owned generation. The remainder of the price has been market price based and there are numerous competitive energy contract providers, however, Ontario is installing Smart Meters in all homes and small businesses and is changing the pricing structure to Time of Use pricing. All small volume consumers are to be shifted to the new structure by the end of 2012

10.
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
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Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de lAulne, commonly known as Turgot, was a French economist and statesman. Originally considered a physiocrat, he is today best remembered as an advocate for economic liberalism. He is thought to be the first economist to have recognized the law of diminishing returns in agriculture. Born in Paris, he was the youngest son of Michel-Étienne Turgot, provost of the merchants of Paris, and Madeleine Francoise Martineau de Brétignolles, and came from an old Norman family. As one of four children, he had a sister and two older brothers, one of whom, Étienne-François Turgot, was a naturalist, and served as administrator of Malta. Anne Robert Jacques was educated for the Church, and at the Sorbonne and he delivered two remarkable Latin dissertations, On the Benefits which the Christian Religion has conferred on Mankind, and On the Historical Progress of the Human Mind. In 1750 he decided not to take orders, giving as his reason that he could not bear to wear a mask all his life. The first sign we have of his interest in economics is a letter on money, written to his fellow-student the abbé de Cicé. The first complete statement of the Idea of Progress is that of Turgot, for Turgot progress covers not simply the arts and sciences but, on their base, the whole of culture – manner, mores, institutions, legal codes, economy, and society. In 1752 he became substitut, and later conseiller in the parlement of Paris, in 1754 he was a member of the chambre royale which sat during an exile of the parlement. It was during this period that he met the leaders of the school, Quesnay and Vincent de Gournay, and with them Dupont de Nemours. In 1743 and 1756 he accompanied Gournay, the intendant of commerce, in 1760, while travelling in the east of France and Switzerland, he visited Voltaire, who became one of his chief friends and supporters. All this time he was studying various branches of science, between 1755 and 1756 he composed various articles for the Encyclopédie, and between 1757 and 1760 an article on Valeurs des monnaies, probably for the Dictionnaire du commerce of the abbé Morellet. In 1759 appeared his work Eloge de Gournay, in August 1761 Turgot was appointed intendant of the genéralité of Limoges, which included some of the poorest and most over-taxed parts of France, here he remained for thirteen years. He was already imbued with the theories of Quesnay and Gournay. He published his Avis sur lassiette et la repartition de la taille, Quesnay and Mirabeau had advocated a proportional tax, but Turgot proposed a distributive tax. Turgots opinion was that a compromise had to be reached between both methods, at the same time he did much to encourage agriculture and local industries, among others establishing the manufacture of porcelain at Limoges. It may be noted that Turgot always made the curés the agents of his charities and it was in 1770 that he wrote his famous Lettres sur la liberté du commerce des grains, addressed to the controller-general, the abbé Terray

11.
Louis XVI of France
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Louis XVI, born Louis-Auguste, was the last King of France and Navarre before the French Revolution, during which he was also known as Louis Capet. In 1765, at the death of his father, Louis, Dauphin of France, son and heir apparent of Louis XV of France, Louis XVI was guillotined on 21 January 1793. The first part of his reign was marked by attempts to reform France in accordance with Enlightenment ideas and these included efforts to abolish serfdom, remove the taille, and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics. The French nobility reacted to the reforms with hostility. Louis implemented deregulation of the market, advocated by his liberal minister Turgot. In periods of bad harvests, it would lead to food scarcity which would prompt the masses to revolt, from 1776, Louis XVI actively supported the North American colonists, who were seeking their independence from Great Britain, which was realized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the unpopularity of the Ancien Régime and this led to the convening of the Estates-General of 1789. In 1789, the storming of the Bastille during riots in Paris marked the beginning of the French Revolution. Louiss indecisiveness and conservatism led some elements of the people of France to view him as a symbol of the tyranny of the Ancien Régime. The credibility of the king was deeply undermined, and the abolition of the monarchy, Louis XVI was the only King of France ever to be executed, and his death brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. Louis-Auguste de France, who was given the title Duc de Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles. Out of seven children, he was the son of Louis, the Dauphin of France. His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter of Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. A strong and healthy boy, but very shy, Louis-Auguste excelled in his studies and had a taste for Latin, history, geography, and astronomy. He enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his grandfather, and rough-playing with his brothers, Louis-Stanislas, comte de Provence. From an early age, Louis-Auguste had been encouraged in another of his hobbies, locksmithing, upon the death of his father, who died of tuberculosis on 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste became the new Dauphin. His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband, and died on 13 March 1767, throughout his education, Louis-Auguste received a mixture of studies particular to religion, morality, and humanities. His instructors may have also had a hand in shaping Louis-Auguste into the indecisive king that he became

12.
Storming of the Bastille
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The Storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris, France, on the afternoon of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress, armory, and political prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the center of Paris. The prison contained just seven inmates at the time of its storming but was a symbol of abuses by the monarchy, in France, Le quatorze juillet is a public holiday, usually called Bastille Day in English. During the reign of Louis XVI, France faced an economic crisis, partially initiated by the cost of intervening in the American Revolution. The king initially opposed this development, but was forced to acknowledge the authority of the assembly, which subsequently renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July. The commoners had formed the National Guard, sporting tricolour cockades of blue, white and red, formed by combining the red and blue cockade of Paris and the white cockade of the king. These cockades, and soon simply their colour scheme, became the symbol of the revolution and, later, Paris, close to insurrection and, in François Mignets words, intoxicated with liberty and enthusiasm, showed wide support for the Assembly. The press published the Assemblys debates, political debate spread beyond the Assembly itself into the public squares, the Palais-Royal and its grounds became the site of an ongoing meeting. The Assembly recommended the imprisoned guardsmen to the clemency of the king, they returned to prison, the rank and file of the regiment, previously considered reliable, now leaned toward the popular cause. News of Neckers dismissal reached Paris in the afternoon of Sunday,12 July, the Parisians generally presumed that the dismissal marked the start of a coup by conservative elements. Crowds gathered throughout Paris, including more than ten thousand at the Palais-Royal and this very night all the Swiss and German battalions will leave the Champ de Mars to massacre us all, one resource is left, to take arms. By early July, approximately half of the 25,000 regular troops in Paris, the crowd clashed with the Royal German Cavalry Regiment between the Place Vendôme and the Tuileries Palace. From atop the Champs-Élysées, the Prince de Lambesc unleashed a cavalry charge that dispersed the protesters at Place Louis XV—now Place de la Concorde. The Royal commander, Baron de Besenval, fearing the results of a blood bath amongst the poorly armed crowds or defections among his own men, then withdrew the cavalry towards Sèvres. Meanwhile, unrest was growing among the people of Paris who expressed their hostility against state authorities by attacking customs posts blamed for causing increased food, the people of Paris started to plunder any place where food, guns and supplies could be hoarded. That night, rumors spread that supplies were being hoarded at Saint-Lazare, a property of the clergy. An angry mob broke in and plundered the property, seizing 52 wagons of wheat and that same day multitudes of people plundered many other places including weapon arsenals. The Royal troops did nothing to stop the spreading of chaos in Paris during those days

13.
Versailles, Yvelines
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According to the 2008 census, the population of the city is 88,641 inhabitants, down from a peak of 94,145 in 1975. A new town, founded by the will of King Louis XIV, it was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789, before becoming the cradle of the French Revolution. After having lost its status of city, it became the préfecture of Seine-et-Oise département in 1790, then of Yvelines in 1968. Versailles is historically known for numerous treaties such as the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolutionary War and this word formation is similar to Latin seminare which gave French semailles. From May 1682, when Louis XIV moved the court and government permanently to Versailles, until his death in September 1715, during the various periods when government affairs were conducted from Versailles, Paris remained the official capital of France. Versailles was made the préfecture of the Seine-et-Oise département at its inception in March 1790, Versailles was made the préfecture of the Yvelines département, the largest chunk of the former Seine-et-Oise. At the 2006 census the Yvelines had 1,395,804 inhabitants, Versailles is the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese which was created in 1790. The diocese of Versailles is subordinate to the archdiocese of Paris, in 1975, Versailles was made the seat of a Court of Appeal whose jurisdiction covers the western suburbs of Paris. Since 1972, Versailles has been the seat of one of Frances 30 nationwide académies of the Ministry of National Education. Versailles is also an important node for the French army, a tradition going back to the monarchy with, for instance, the palace of Versailles is in the out-skirts of the city. Versailles is located 17.1 km west-southwest from the centre of Paris, the city of Versailles has an area of 26.18 km2, which is a quarter of the area of the city of Paris. In 1989, Versailles had a density of 3, 344/km2, whereas Paris had a density of 20. Born out of the will of a king, the city has a rational and symmetrical grid of streets, by the standards of the 18th century, Versailles was a very modern European city. Versailles was used as a model for the building of Washington, the name of Versailles appears for the first time in a medieval document dated 1038. In the end of the 11th century, the village curled around a medieval castle, the 14th century brought the Black Death and the Hundred Years War, and with it death and destruction. At the end of the Hundred Years War in the 15th century, in 1561, Martial de Loménie, secretary of state for finances under King Charles IX, became lord of Versailles. He obtained permission to four annual fairs and a weekly market on Thursdays. The population of Versailles was 500 inhabitants, Martial de Loménie was murdered during the St. Bartholomews Day massacre

14.
August Decrees
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The August Decrees were nineteen decrees made in August 1789 by the National Constituent Assembly during the French Revolution. The fall of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 was followed by a mass uproar spreading from Paris to the countryside, noble families were attacked and many aristocratic manors were burned. Abbeys and castles were also attacked and destroyed, the peers started to emigrate to the cities of France, and incidents of brigandage multiplied by the moment. The season of La Grande Peur – the Great Fear – was characterised by social hysteria, in many cases, the violence was begun not by homeless people or hunger-driven peasants but by settled countrymen who took this opportunity to further their own cause. The Great Fear opened up the vulnerability of the French government – there was a lack of authority at the center of it. The prolonged riots and massacres led to an anxiety that things might get out of control. It was an experience that the country had never undergone before, the August decrees were finally completed a week later. See, Abolition of feudalism in France#The debates in the Assembly There were nineteen decrees in all, article One The Assembly declared the feudal system abolished thereafter. Within the “existing rights and dues, both feudal and censuel, all originating in or representing real or personal serfdom shall be abolished without indemnification. ”All other dues were redeemable. Those dues that were not removed by this decree were to be collected as usual until indemnification took place, article Two The exclusive right of fuies and dovecotes is abolished. The pigeons will be locked up during times determined by the communities, during these periods, they will be considered prey, and anyone will be allowed to kill them on their properties. Article Three The exclusive rights of keeping unenclosed warrens were abolished as well, every landowner shall have the rights to destroy all kinds of game in their own land. However, public safety regulations must be maintained by them, All hunting spaces, including the royal forest, and all hunting rights were similarly abolished as well. There were provisions made for the hunting, however, for his personal pleasure in it. The president of the Assembly was commissioned to ask of the king the release of people who were sent to prison or exiled for the violation of the previously existing hunting rights. Article Four All the Manorial Courts were suppressed, but the judges, article Five Any kind of tithes, as well as any substitution for them were abolished. ”Until these provisions were made, the Assembly allowed the priests to collect the tithes. All the other tithes, which were not abolished under this law, were to be collected as usual, article Six All sorts of ground rents were redeemable at a price the Assembly fixed. No dues were to be created in the future that was irredeemable, article Seven The sale of judicial and municipal offices was abolished

15.
Tours
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Tours is a city located in the centre-west of France. It is the centre of the Indre-et-Loire department and the largest city in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. In 2012, the city of Tours had 134,978 inhabitants, Tours stands on the lower reaches of the River Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. The surrounding district, the province of Touraine, is known for its wines, for the alleged perfection of its local spoken French. The city is also the end-point of the annual Paris–Tours cycle race, in Gallic times the city was important as a crossing point of the Loire. Becoming part of the Roman Empire during the 1st century AD, the name evolved in the 4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones, became first Civitas Turonum then Tours. It was at time that the amphitheatre of Tours, one of the five largest amphitheatres of the Empire, was built. Tours became the metropolis of the Roman province of Lugdunum towards 380–388, dominating the Loire Valley, Maine, one of the outstanding figures of the history of the city was Saint Martin, second bishop who shared his coat with a naked beggar in Amiens. This incident and the importance of Martin in the medieval Christian West made Tours, and its position on the route of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, a major centre during the Middle Ages. In the 6th century Gregory of Tours, author of the Ten Books of History, in the 9th century, Tours was at the heart of the Carolingian Rebirth, in particular because of Alcuin abbot of Marmoutier. The outcome was defeat for the Muslims, preventing France from Islamic conquest, in 845, Tours repulsed the first attack of the Viking chief Hasting. In 850, the Vikings settled at the mouths of the Seine, still led by Hasting, they went up the Loire again in 852 and sacked Angers, Tours and the abbey of Marmoutier. During the Middle Ages, Tours consisted of two juxtaposed and competing centres, in the west, the new city structured around the Abbey of Saint Martin was freed from the control of the City during the 10th century and became Châteauneuf. This space, organized between Saint Martin and the Loire, became the centre of Tours. Between these two centres remained Varennes, vineyards and fields, little occupied except for the Abbaye Saint-Julien established on the banks of the Loire, the two centres were linked during the 14th century. Tours became the capital of the county of Tours or Touraine and it was the capital of France at the time of Louis XI, who had settled in the castle of Montils, Tours and Touraine remained until the 16th century a permanent residence of the kings and court. The rebirth gave Tours and Touraine many private mansions and castles and it is also at the time of Louis XI that the silk industry was introduced – despite difficulties, the industry still survives to this day. At this time, the Catholics returned to power in Angers, the Massacre of Saint-Barthelemy was not repeated at Tours

16.
Marquis
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A marquess is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The term is used to translate equivalent Asian styles, as in imperial China. In Great Britain and Ireland, the spelling of the aristocratic title of this rank is marquess. In Scotland the French spelling is sometimes used. In Great Britain and Ireland, the ranks below a duke. A woman with the rank of a marquess, or the wife of a marquess, is called a marchioness /ˌmɑːrʃəˈnɛs/ in Great Britain, the dignity, rank or position of the title is referred to as a marquisate or marquessate. The theoretical distinction between a marquess and other titles has, since the Middle Ages, faded into obscurity. In times past, the distinction between a count and a marquess was that the land of a marquess, called a march, was on the border of the country, while a land, called a county. As a result of this, a marquess was trusted to defend and fortify against potentially hostile neighbours and was more important. The title is ranked below that of a duke, which was restricted to the royal family. In the German lands, a Margrave was a ruler of an immediate Imperial territory, German rulers did not confer the title of marquis, holders of marquisates in Central Europe were largely associated with the Italian and Spanish crowns. The word entered the English language from the Old French marchis in the late 13th or early 14th century, the French word was derived from marche, itself descended from the Middle Latin marca, from which the modern English words march and mark also descend. In Great Britain and Ireland, the spelling for an English aristocrat of this rank is marquess. The word marquess is unusual in English, ending in -ess but referring to a male, a woman with the rank of a marquess, or the wife of a marquess, is called a marchioness in Great Britain and Ireland, or a marquise /mɑːrˈkiːz/ elsewhere in Europe. The dignity, rank or position of the title is referred to as a marquisate or marquessate, the honorific prefix The Most Honourable is a form of address that precedes the name of a marquess or marchioness in the United Kingdom. The rank of marquess was a late introduction to the British peerage, no marcher lords had the rank of marquess. The following list may still be incomplete, feminine forms follow after a slash, many languages have two words, one for the modern marquess and one for the original margrave. Even where neither title was used domestically, such duplication to describe foreign titles can exist

17.
Palais-Royal
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The Palais-Royal, originally called the Palais-Cardinal, is a palace located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre, the larger inner courtyard, the Cour dHonneur, has since 1986 contained Daniel Burens site-specific art piece Les Deux Plateaux, known as Les Colonnes de Buren. In 1830 the Cour dHonneur was enclosed to the north by what was probably the most famous of Pariss covered arcades, demolished in the 1930s, its flanking rows of columns still stand between the Cour dHonneur and the popular Palais-Royal Gardens. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, the palace was the residence of Cardinal Richelieu. The architect Jacques Lemercier began his design in 1629, construction commenced in 1633 and was completed in 1639, upon Richelieus death in 1642 the palace became the property of the King and acquired the new name Palais-Royal. After Louis XIII died the year, it became the home of the Queen Mother Anne of Austria and her young sons Louis XIV and Philippe, duc dAnjou. From 1649, the palace was the residence of the exiled Henrietta Maria and Henrietta Anne Stuart, wife, the two had escaped England in the midst of the English Civil War and were sheltered by Henrietta Marias nephew, King Louis XIV. Henrietta Anne was later married to Louis younger brother, Philippe de France, the following year the new duchesse dOrléans gave birth to a daughter, Marie Louise dOrléans, inside the palace. After their marriage, the became the main residence of the House of Orléans. The Duchess created the gardens of the palace, which were said to be among the most beautiful in Paris. Under the new couple, the Palais-Royal would become the social center of the capital. The court gatherings at the Palais-Royal were famed all around the capital as well as all of France and it was at these parties that the crème de la crème of French society came to see and be seen. Guests included the members of the royal family like the Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, the duchesse de Montpensier, the Princes de Condé. Philippes favourites were also frequent visitors, the palace was redecorated and new apartments were created for the maids and staff of the Duchess. After Henrietta Anne died in 1670 the Duke took a wife, the Princess Palatine. Saint-Cloud thus became the residence of her eldest son and the heir to the House of Orléans. For the convenience of the bride, new apartments were built and it was at this time that Philippe commissioned the gallery for his famous Orleans Collection of paintings, which was easily accessible to the public. The architect was Jules Hardouin-Mansart, and the cost of reconstruction was totaled to be 400,000 livres

18.
Mercure de France
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The gazette was published from 1672 to 1724 under the title Mercure galant and Nouveau Mercure galant. The title was changed to Mercure de France in 1724, the gazette was briefly suppressed from 1811 to 1815 and ceased publication in 1825. The name was revived in 1890 for both a review and a publishing house initially linked with the symbolist movement. Since 1995 Mercure de France has been part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group, Mercure de France should not be confused with another literary magazine, the Mercure du XIXe siècle. The Mercure galant was founded by the writer Jean Donneau de Visé in 1672. The name refers to the god Mercury, the messenger of the gods, publication stopped in 1674, but began again as a monthly with the name Nouveau Mercure galant in 1677. This article is the earliest known reference to peg solitaire, the gazette was frequently denigrated by authors of the period. The name Mercure galant was used by the playwright Edmé Boursault for one of his plays critical of social pretensions, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle and the Mercure galant joined the Moderns. Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux was pushed into the role of champion of the Anciens, the periodical eventually became a financial success and it brought Donneau de Visé comfortable revenues. The Mercure de France became the arbiter of French arts and humanities. Thomas Corneille was a frequent contributor to the gazette, the Mercure continued to be published after Donneau de Visés death in 1710. In 1724 its title was changed to Mercure de France and it developed a character with a governmentally appointed editor. Jean-François de la Harpe was the editor in chief for 20 years, other significant editors and contributors include, Marmontel, Raynal, Chamfort and Voltaire. Right before the revolution, management was handed over to Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, during the revolutionary era, the title was changed briefly to Le Mercure français. Napoleon stopped its publication in 1811, but the review was resurrected in 1815, the review was last published in 1825. At the end of the 19th century, the name Mercure de France was revived by Alfred Vallette, the first edition of the review appeared on January 1,1890. Over the next decade, the review achieved critical success, and poets such as Stéphane Mallarmé, the review became bimonthly in 1905. In 1889, Alfred Vallette married the novelist Rachilde whose novel Monsieur Vénus was condemned on moral grounds, Rachilde was a member of the editorial committee of the review until 1924 and her personality and works did much to publicize the review

19.
Garde du Corps (France)
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The Garde du Corps was the senior formation of the King of Frances Household Cavalry within the Maison du Roi. This unit was created at a date between 1423 and 1448. Subsequently, two further French companies were raised, a final company was established on 17 March 1515. Each of the four companies initially numbered less than a hundred men, in the Battle of Fornovo during the Italian Wars the Garde du Corps saved king Charles VIII from being captured by enemy forces. Later in the Italian Wars they failed to save Francis I from being captured in the Battle of Pavia, the last time the Garde du Corps campaigned was during the War of the Austrian Succession because it only went on campaign when the king was present. The last battle in which the Garde du Corps was present was Lauffeld on 1 July 1747, in contrast to other units of the Royal Household such as the French Guards and the Swiss Guards, the Garde du Corps was an exclusively aristocratic corps. Even the rank and file were drawn from families with appropriate social backgrounds, as such they were noted for their courtly manners but less so for their professionalism and military skills. Individual courtier guardsmen stationed at Versailles were not subject to regular training beyond ceremonial drill, the Garde du Corps featured conspicuously in several incidents in the opening stages of the French Revolution. The latter regiment had joined in the attack on the Bastille six weeks before, the banquet was reported in Paris as a royalist provocation and an angry crowd of thousands marched on Versailles. During the night of 5 October about 500 members of the broke into the Palace. Other Gardes du Corps held the doors to the apartments until grenadiers of the National Guard – mostly former Gardes Francais – restored order. The Garde du Corps narrowly escaped massacre and, disarmed, was obliged to accompany the Royal Family to Paris, most of this aristocratic regiment then dispersed to their estates or into exile. The Garde du Corps was formally dissolved in 1791 along with all of the Maison du Roi, after the abdication of Napoleon I in April 1814 and the Bourbon Restoration, Louis XVIII recreated the Garde du Corps with the rest of the Maison du Roi. These units disappeared during Napoleons return, at the start of the Hundred Days, the Garde du Corps was however reorganised, reduced in numbers to about 1,500 and integrated more closely with the regular army. The reconstituted Garde du Corps served the returned Bourbons loyally until being abolished, along with all Guard units. The original motto of the Garde du Corps was Erit haec quoque cognita monstris, but during the reign of Louis XIV it changed to Nec pluribus impar, the swords of the guardsmen were inscribed with Vive le Roi. 1st Scottish Company – formed in 1440 by Charles VII, despite the name, by the 16th century the company has ceased to be purely Scottish. Little by little the Scottish Company became Scottish in name only, 1st French Company – formed in 1475 by Louis XI

20.
Swiss Guards
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See Pontifical Swiss Guard for the Swiss Guard stationed at the Vatican. Swiss Guards are the Swiss soldiers who have served as guards at foreign European courts since the late 15th century, Foreign military service was outlawed by the revised Swiss Constitution of 1874, with the only exception being the Pontifical Swiss Guard stationed at the Vatican. The modern Papal Swiss Guard serves as both a unit and a bodyguard. Established in 1506, it is one of the oldest military units in the world, the earliest Swiss guard unit to be established on a permanent basis was the Hundred Swiss, which served at the French court from 1490 to 1817. This small force was complemented in 1567 by a Swiss Guards regiment, in the 18th and early 19th centuries several other Swiss Guard units existed for periods in various European courts. In addition to household and palace units, Swiss mercenary regiments have served as regular line troops in various armies, notably those of France, Spain. They were considered the most effective mercenaries of the 15th century, at the Battle of Marignano, the Landsknecht in French service defeated the Swiss pikemen. In addition the Gardes Suisses served in the field as a regiment in times of war. King Francis I of France used some 120,000 Swiss mercenaries in the Italian Wars, the Hundred Swiss were created in 1480 when Louis XI retained a Swiss company for his personal guard. By 1496 they comprised one hundred guardsmen plus about twenty-seven officers and their main role was the protection of the King within the palace as the garde du dedans du Louvre, but in the earlier part of their history they accompanied the King to war. In the Battle of Pavia the Hundred Swiss of King Francis I were slain before Francis was captured by the Spanish, the Hundred Swiss shared the indoor guard with the Kings Bodyguards, who were Frenchmen. The Hundred Swiss were armed with halberds, the blade of which carried the Royal arms in gold and their ceremonial dress as worn until 1789 comprised an elaborate 16th century Swiss costume covered with braiding and livery lace. A less ornate dark blue and red uniform with bearskin headdress was worn for ordinary duties, the Cent Suisses company was disbanded after Louis XVI left Versailles in October 1789. It was however refounded on 15 July 1814 with an establishment of 136 guardsmen, the Hundred Swiss accompanied Louis XVIII into exile in Belgium the following year and returned with him to Paris following the Battle of Waterloo. The unit then resumed its role of palace guards at the Tuileries. In 1616, King Louis XIII gave a regiment of Swiss infantry the name of Gardes suisses, the new regiment had the primary role of protecting the doors, gates and outer perimeters of the various royal palaces. In its early years this unit was officially a regiment of the line, during the 17th and 18th centuries the Swiss Guards maintained a reputation for discipline and steadiness in both peacetime service and foreign campaigning. Their officers were all Swiss and their rate of pay substantially higher than that of the regular French soldiers, internal discipline was maintained according to Swiss codes which were significantly harsher than those of the regular French Army

21.
L'Ami du peuple
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LAmi du peuple was a newspaper written by Jean-Paul Marat during the French Revolution. These papers were considered dangerous because they often ignited violent and rebellious behavior, as an elector for the District of the Carmes Déchaussés in 1789, Marat tried to persuade the electoral assembly to publish a journal to keep their electorate informed of current political events. When they did not take up his proposal, Marat resigned his post as elector in order to concentrate on writing a journal himself, the first issue was published September 12,1789. After several issues, the name was changed to L’Ami du peuple, the journal was printed in octavo format, usually eight pages long, although occasionally expanding to twelve or sixteen pages. His press was destroyed and copies of L’Ami du peuple confiscated at least twice, Marat, with no source of independent income, used much of his own savings to print L’Ami du peuple. In early 1792, after returning from a stay in England. With the financial support of his new wife, Simonne Evrard. On September 9,1792, Marat was elected to the National Convention, on September 25, he began a new journal entitled Journal de la Republique francaise. It would continue under this name until his death, Marat resigned from the Convention on June 3,1793, after the overthrow of the Girondists was complete. His skin disease was now accompanied by a complaint. His journal during this time consists mostly of letters from his many correspondents, on July 13, Marat was murdered by Charlotte Corday, the last edition of his journal was published the day after his death. The popularity of his led to many counterfeits during his periods of hiding. I came to the Revolution with my ideas already formed, and I was so familiar with the principles of politics that they had become commonplaces for me. Having had greater confidence in the patriots of the Constituent Assembly than they deserved, I was surprised at their pettiness. Believing that they needed light, I entered into correspondence with the most famous deputies, notably with Chapelier, Mirabeau and their stubborn silence on all my letters soon proved to me that though they needed light, they cared little to be enlightened. I adopted the course of publishing my ideas by means of the press, I founded the Ami du Peuple. I began it with a severe but honest tone, that of a man who wishes to tell the truth without breaking the conventions of society, I maintained that tone for two whole months. The bitterness of the satire increased with the number of mismanagements, the iniquity of their projects, strongly convinced of the absolute perversity of the supporters of the old regime and the enemies of liberty, I felt that nothing could be obtained from them except by force

22.
Flag of France
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The national flag of France is a tricolour flag featuring three vertical bands coloured blue, white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the French Tricolour or simply the Tricolour, the royal government used many flags, the best known being a blue shield and gold fleur-de-lis on a white background, or state flag. Early in the French Revolution, the Paris militia, which played a prominent role in the storming of the Bastille, wore a cockade of blue and red, the citys traditional colours. According to Lafayette, white, the ancient French colour, was added to the militia cockade to create a tricolour, or national and this cockade became part of the uniform of the National Guard, which succeeded the militia and was commanded by Lafayette. The colours and design of the cockade are the basis of the Tricolour flag, the only difference was that the 1790 flags colours were reversed. A modified design by Jacques-Louis David was adopted in 1794, the royal white flag was used during the Bourbon restoration from 1815 to 1830, the tricolour was brought back after the July Revolution and has been used ever since 1830. The colours adopted by Valéry Giscard dEstaing, which replaced a version of the flag. Currently, the flag is one and a half times wider than its height and, initially, the three stripes of the flag were not equally wide, being in the proportions 30,33 and 37. Blue and red are the colours of Paris, used on the citys coat of arms. Blue is identified with Saint Martin, red with Saint Denis, at the storming of the Bastille in 1789, the Paris militia wore blue and red cockades on their hats. White had long featured prominently on French flags and is described as the ancient French colour by Lafayette, white was added to the revolutionary colours of the militia cockade to nationalise the design, thus creating the tricolour cockade. Although Lafayette identified the white stripe with the nation, other accounts identify it with the monarchy, Lafayette denied that the flag contains any reference to the red-and-white livery of the Duc dOrléans. Despite this, Orléanists adopted the tricolour as their own, blue and red are associated with the Virgin Mary, the patroness of France, and were the colours of the oriflamme. The colours of the French flag may represent the three main estates of the Ancien Régime. Blue, as the symbol of class, comes first and red, representing the nobility, both extreme colours are situated on each side of white referring to a superior order. Lafayettes tricolour cockade was adopted in July 1789, a moment of unity that soon faded. Royalists began wearing white cockades and flying flags, while the Jacobins. The tricolour, which combines royalist white with red, came to be seen as a symbol of moderation

23.
Cockade
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A cockade is a knot of ribbons, or other circular- or oval-shaped symbol of distinctive colors which is usually worn on a hat. In the 18th and 19th centuries, coloured cockades were used in Europe to show the allegiance of their wearers to some political faction, their rank, military uniforms would use cockades as well. A cockade was pinned on the side of a mans tricorne or cocked hat, women could also wear it on their hat or in their hair. In pre-revolutionary France, the cockade of the Bourbon dynasty was all white, in the Kingdom of Great Britain supporters of a Jacobite restoration wore white cockades, while the recently established Hanoverian monarchy used a black cockade. During the 1780 Gordon Riots in London the blue became a symbol of anti-government feelings and was worn by most of the rioters. Before long however, the Continental Army reverted to wearing the black cockade they inherited from the British, the black-and-white cockade thus became known as the Union Cockade. Instead revolutionaries would wear cockades with the colours of the arms of Paris, red. Later the Bourbon white was added to this cockade - thus producing the original Tricolore cockade, later, distinctive colours and styles of cockade would indicate the wearers faction—although the meanings of the various styles were not entirely consistent, and varied somewhat by region and period. From the 15th century various European monarchy realms used cockades to denote the nationalities of their military and their origin reverts to the distinctive colored band or ribbon worn by late medieval armies or jousting knights on their arms or headgear to distinguish friend from foe in the field of battle. During the Napoleonic wars, the armies of France and Russia, had the imperial French cockade or the larger cockade of St. George pinned on the front of their shakos. The Second German Empire used two cockades on each army headgear, one for the empire, the other for one of the monarchies the empire was composed of, which had used their own colors long before. The only exceptions were the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Württemberg, having preserved the right to keep their own armed forces which were not integrated in the Imperial Army and their only cockades were either white and blue or black and yellow. The Weimar Republic removed these, as they might promote separatism which would lead to the dissolution of the German nation-state into regional countries again and these colours represented the biggest and the smallest countries of the Reich, Prussia and the Hanseatic City States of Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck. France began the first Air Service in 1909 and soon picked the traditional French cockade as the first national emblem, now termed a roundel. During World War I, other countries adopted national cockades and used these coloured emblems as roundels on their military aircraft and these designs often bear an additional central device or emblem to further identify national aircraft, those from the French navy bearing a black anchor within the French cockade. Hungarian revolutionaries wore cockades during the Hungarian revolution of 1848 and during the 1956 revolution, because of this, Hungarians traditionally wear cockades on 15 March

24.
House of Bourbon
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The House of Bourbon is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century, by the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have Bourbon monarchs, the royal Bourbons originated in 1268, when the heiress of the lordship of Bourbon married a younger son of King Louis IX. The house continued for three centuries as a branch, while more senior Capetians ruled France, until Henry IV became the first Bourbon king of France in 1589. Restored briefly in 1814 and definitively in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire, a cadet Bourbon branch, the House of Orléans, then ruled for 18 years, until it too was overthrown. The Princes de Condé were a branch of the Bourbons descended from an uncle of Henry IV. Both houses were prominent in French affairs, even during exile in the French Revolution, until their respective extinctions in 1830 and 1814. When the Bourbons inherited the strongest claim to the Spanish throne, the claim was passed to a cadet Bourbon prince, a grandson of Louis XIV of France, who became Philip V of Spain. The Spanish House of Bourbon has been overthrown and restored several times, reigning 1700–1808, 1813–1868, 1875–1931, Bourbons ruled in Naples from 1734–1806 and in Sicily from 1734–1816, and in a unified Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1816–1860. They also ruled in Parma from 1731–1735, 1748–1802 and 1847–1859, all legitimate, living members of the House of Bourbon, including its cadet branches, are direct agnatic descendants of Henry IV. The term House of Bourbon is sometimes used to refer to this first house and the House of Bourbon-Dampierre, the second family to rule the seigneury. In 1268, Robert, Count of Clermont, sixth son of King Louis IX of France, married Beatrix of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon and their son Louis was made Duke of Bourbon in 1327. His descendant, the Constable of France Charles de Bourbon, was the last of the senior Bourbon line when he died in 1527. Because he chose to fight under the banner of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and lived in exile from France, the remaining line of Bourbons henceforth descended from James I, Count of La Marche, the younger son of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon. With the death of his grandson James II, Count of La Marche in 1438, all future Bourbons would descend from James IIs younger brother, Louis, who became the Count of Vendôme through his mothers inheritance. In 1514, Charles, Count of Vendôme had his title raised to Duke of Vendôme and his son Antoine became King of Navarre, on the northern side of the Pyrenees, by marriage in 1555. Two of Antoines younger brothers were Cardinal Archbishop Charles de Bourbon, Louis male-line, the Princes de Condé, survived until 1830. Finally, in 1589, the House of Valois died out and he was born on 13 December 1553 in the Kingdom of Navarre

25.
Stanislas-Marie Maillard
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Stanislas-Marie Maillard was a captain of the Bastille Volunteers. As a national guardsman, he participated in the attack on the Bastille, Maillard testified in court to the events at Versailles. Maillard participated in the taking of the Bastille on July 14,1789, henceforth bearing the title “Captain of the Volunteers of the Bastille”, he took an active part in most of the landmark revolutionary events. Recruited into the ranks of the “Hébertistes”, he was charged by the Committee of Public Safety with the task of organizing a revolutionary police force. This latter statement referred to rumors that, at the banquet of October 2,1789, put on for the visiting Flanders regiment by the royal bodyguards, the national cockade had been trampled underfoot. The marchers themselves behaved violently on the 5th, insulting the Queen and the priests they met in the National Assembly, and clashing with the guards of the palace. Named captain of the guard in 1790, he signed, on July 17,1791, the petition of the Champs-de-Mars. Charged by the Commune of Paris in September 1792 to put an end to recent wholesale massacres of prisoners and he seems to have aided and abetted the massacres, having loaned them an air of legality with his presence. Others credit him with having a role in the affair. Posterity knows him as “the grand judge of the Abbaye” or “Chief of the Murderers” and this name refers to the legend that, in order to spare her father’s life, she was compelled to drink a glass of blood. Jules Claretie, in the role of second-in-command, gave an account of Maillard in the role of judge, “Maillard was a young man of thirty, large, dark. He wears stockings, and a habit with large pockets. Detained two times under the due to his ties with the Hébertists, he died, in misery. Stanislas Maillard, lhomme du 2 septembre 1792

26.
National Guard (France)
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The National Guard was originally a French militia which existed from 1789 until 1872, including a period of official disbandment from 1827 to 1830. It was separate from the French Army and existed both for policing and as a military reserve, for most of its history the National Guard, particularly its officers, were widely viewed as loyal to middle-class interests. This had rapidly spread anger and violence throughout Paris, the National Assembly declared the formation of a Bourgeois Militia on 13 July. In the early morning of the day, the search for weapons for this new militia led to the storming of the Hotel des Invalides. Lafayette was elected to the post of commander in chief of the Bourgeois Militia on 15 July, similar bodies were spontaneously created in the towns and rural districts of France in response to widespread fears of chaos or counter-revolution. When the French Guards mutinied and were disbanded during the same month, the officers of the National Guard were elected. Under the law of 14 October 1791, all active citizens and their role was the maintenance of law and order and, if necessary, the defence of the territory. Following a nationwide scheme decided on in September 1791, the National Guard was organised on the basis of district or canton companies, five of these neighbourhood units made up a battalion. Eight to ten battalions comprised a legion, districts might also provide companies of veterans and young citizens, respectively drawn from volunteers of over 60 or under 18. Where possible, there was provision for mounted detachments and artillerymen, the citizens kept their weapons and their uniforms at home, and set forth with them when required. This combination of colours matched those of the revolutionary tricolour, the former Guet royal had held responsibility for the maintenance of law and order in Paris from 1254 to 1791, when the National Guard took over this role. In fact, the last commander of the Guet royal, de La Rothière, was elected to head the National Guard in 1791, in the summer of 1792, the fundamental character of the guard changed. After 9 Thermidor, year II, the new government of the Thermidorian Reaction placed the National Guard under the control of conservative leadership. The Paris National Guard thereafter ceased to play a significant political role, napoleon did not believe that the middle-class National Guard would be able to maintain order and suppress riots. Therefore, he created a Municipal Guard of Paris, a full-time gendarmerie which was strongly militarised, however, he did not abolish the National Guard, but was content to partially disarm it. He kept the force in reserve and mobilised it for the defence of French territory in 1809 and 1814, between 1811 and 1812 the National Guard, was organized in cohorts to distinguish it from the regular army, and for home defence only. By a skilful appeal to patriotism, and judicious pressure applied through the prefects, with the invasion of France by allied Austrian, Prussian, Russian and British armies in 1814, the National Guard was suddenly called on to provide support for regular Imperial forces. Existing National Guard units, such as those of Paris, were deployed as defence corps in their areas of recruitment, mass conscription was extended to age groups previously exempt from military service, to provide more manpower for the expanded National Guard

27.
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
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A close friend of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830. Born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France and he followed its martial tradition, and was commissioned an officer at age 13. He became convinced that the American cause in its war was noble. There, he was made a general, however, the 19-year-old was initially not given troops to command. Wounded during the Battle of Brandywine, he managed to organize an orderly retreat. He served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island, in the middle of the war, he returned home to lobby for an increase in French support. He again sailed to America in 1780, and was given positions in the Continental Army. In 1781, troops in Virginia under his command blocked forces led by Cornwallis until other American, Lafayette returned to France and, in 1787, was appointed to the Assembly of Notables, which was convened in response to the fiscal crisis. He was elected a member of the Estates-General of 1789, where representatives met from the three orders of French society—the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. He helped write the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, after the storming of the Bastille, Lafayette was appointed commander-in-chief of the National Guard and tried to steer a middle course through the French Revolution. In August 1792, the radical factions ordered his arrest, fleeing through the Austrian Netherlands, he was captured by Austrian troops and spent more than five years in prison. Lafayette returned to France after Napoleon Bonaparte secured his release in 1797, after the Bourbon Restoration of 1814, he became a liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies, a position he held for most of the remainder of his life. During Frances July Revolution of 1830, Lafayette declined an offer to become the French dictator, instead, he supported Louis-Philippe as king, but turned against him when the monarch became autocratic. Lafayette died on 20 May 1834, and is buried in Picpus Cemetery in Paris, for his accomplishments in the service of both France and the United States, he is sometimes known as The Hero of the Two Worlds. Lafayettes lineage was likely one of the oldest and most distinguished in Auvergne and, perhaps, males of the Lafayette family enjoyed a reputation for courage and chivalry and were noted for their contempt for danger. One of Lafayettes early ancestors, Gilbert de Lafayette III, a Marshal of France, had been a companion-at-arms of Joan of Arcs army during the Siege of Orléans in 1429, according to legend, another ancestor acquired the crown of thorns during the Sixth Crusade. Lafayettes father likewise died on the battlefield, on 1 August 1759, Michel de Lafayette was struck by a cannonball while fighting a British-led coalition at the Battle of Minden in Westphalia. Lafayette became marquis and Lord of Chavaniac, but the estate went to his mother, in 1768, when Lafayette was 11, he was summoned to Paris to live with his mother and great-grandfather at the comtes apartments in Luxembourg Palace

28.
Paris Commune (French Revolution)
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The Paris Commune during the French Revolution was the government of Paris from 1789 until 1795. Established in the Hôtel de Ville just after the storming of the Bastille, the Paris Commune became insurrectionary in the summer of 1792, essentially refusing to take orders from the central French government. It took charge of routine civic functions but is best known for mobilizing extreme views and actions among the people and for its campaign to dechristianize the churches and it lost much power in 1794 and was replaced in 1795. In 1792, the Commune was dominated by those Jacobins who were not in the Legislative Assembly due to the Self-Denying Ordinance, the all-powerful Commune demanded custody of the royal family, imprisoning them in the Temple fortress. A list of opponents of the Revolution was drawn up, the gates to the city were sealed, the government of the republic was succeeded by the French Directory in November 1795

29.
Marie Antoinette
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Marie Antoinette (/ˈmæriˌæntwəˈnɛt/, /ˌɑ̃ːntwə-/, /ˌɑ̃ːtwə-/, US /məˈriː-/, French, born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, was the last Queen of France and Navarre before the French Revolution. She was born an Archduchess of Austria, and was the fifteenth and second youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, in April 1770, upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne, she became Dauphine of France. After eight years of marriage, Marie Antoinette gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, the Diamond Necklace affair damaged her reputation further. On 10 August 1792, the attack on the Tuileries forced the family to take refuge at the Assembly. On 21 September 1792, the monarchy was abolished, after a two-day trial begun on 14 October 1793, Marie Antoinette was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of high treason, and executed by guillotine on Place de la Révolution on 16 October 1793. Maria Antonia was born on 2 November 1755, at the Hofburg Palace and she was the youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg Empire, and her husband Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her godparents were Joseph I and Mariana Victoria, King and Queen of Portugal, Archduke Joseph, shortly after her birth, she was placed under the care of the Governess of the Imperial children, Countess von Brandeis. Maria Antonia was raised with her older sister Maria Carolina. As to her relationship with her mother, it was difficult, despite the private tutoring she received, results of her schooling were less than satisfactory. At the age of ten she could not write correctly in German or in any language used at court, such as French. Under the teaching of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Maria Antonia developed into a good musician and she learned to play the harp, the harpsichord and the flute. During the familys gatherings in the evenings, she would sing and she also excelled at dancing, had an exquisite poise, and loved dolls. Following the Seven Years War and the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756, Empress Maria Theresa decided to end hostilities with her longtime enemy, on 14 May she met her husband at the edge of the forest of Compiègne. Upon her arrival in France, she adopted the French version of her name, a further ceremonial wedding took place on 16 May 1770 in the Palace of Versailles and, after the festivities, the day ended with the ritual bedding. The lack of consummation of the marriage plagued the reputation of both Louis-Auguste and Marie Antoinette for the seven years. The initial reaction to the marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste was mixed, on the one hand, the Dauphine was beautiful, personable and well-liked by the common people. Her first official appearance in Paris on 8 June 1773 was a resounding success, on the other hand, those opposed to the alliance with Austria, and others, for personal reasons, had a difficult relationship with Marie Antoinette. Madame du Barry, for example, was Louis XVs mistress and had political influence over him

30.
Maximilien Robespierre
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Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was a French lawyer and politician. He was one of the best-known and most influential figures associated with the French Revolution, as a member of the Estates-General, the Constituent Assembly and the Jacobin Club, Robespierre was an outspoken advocate for the poor and for democratic institutions. He campaigned for universal suffrage in France, price controls on basic food commodities. But although he was an ardent opponent of the penalty, he played an important role in arranging the execution of King Louis XVI. He is perhaps best known for his role in the French Revolutions Reign of Terror and he was named as a member of the powerful Committee of Public Safety launched by his political ally Georges Danton and exerted his influence to suppress the left-wing Hébertists. The Terror ended a few later with Robespierres arrest and execution in July. Robespierres personal responsibility for the excesses of the Terror remains the subject of debate among historians of the French Revolution. Influenced by 18th-century Enlightenment philosophes such as Rousseau and Montesquieu, Robespierre was a capable articulator of the beliefs of the left-wing bourgeoisie and his steadfast adherence and defense of the views he expressed earned him the nickname lIncorruptible. Robespierres reputation has gone through cycles of re-appraisal. During the Soviet Era, Robespierre was used as an example of a Revolutionary figure and his reputation peaked in the 1920s with the influence of French historian Albert Mathiez. In more recent times, his reputation has suffered as historians have associated him with an attempt at a radical purification of politics through the killing of enemies, Maximilien Robespierre was born in Arras in the old French province of Artois. His family has been traced back to the 12th century in Picardy and it has been suggested that he was of Irish descent, his surname possibly a corruption of Robert Speirs. His paternal grandfather, also named Maximilien de Robespierre, established himself in Arras as a lawyer and his father, François Maximilien Barthélémy de Robespierre, was a lawyer at the Conseil dArtois. He married Jacqueline Marguerite Carrault, the daughter of a brewer, Maximilien was the oldest of four children and was conceived out of wedlock. His siblings were Charlotte, Henriette, and Augustin, on 7 July 1764, Madame de Robespierre gave birth to a stillborn son, she died nine days later. Devastated by his wifes death, François de Robespierre subsequently left Arras, the children would visit each other on Sundays. Already literate at age 8, Maximilien started attending the collège of Arras, in October 1769, on the recommendation of the bishop, he received a scholarship at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, University of Paris in Paris. Robespierre studied there until age 23, receiving his training as a lawyer, upon his graduation, he received a special prize of 600-livre for twelve years of exemplary academic success and personal good conduct

31.
Jean Joseph Mounier
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Jean Joseph Mounier was a French politician and judge. He studied law, and in 1783 obtained a judgeship at Grenoble and he took part in the struggle between the parlements and the court in 1788, and promoted the meeting of the estates of Dauphiné at Vizille, on the eve of the French Revolution. He was secretary of the assembly, and drafted the cahiers of grievances and remonstrances presented by it to King Louis XVI. Thus brought into prominence, Mounier was unanimously elected deputy of the estate to the states general of 1789. On 28 September 1789 he was elected president of the Constituent Assembly, being unable, however, to approve the proceedings which followed, Mounier withdrew to Dauphiné, resigned as deputy, and, becoming suspect, took refuge in Switzerland in 1790. He returned to France in 1801, was named by Napoleon Bonaparte prefect of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine, which he reorganized, and in 1805 was appointed councillor of state. Full text online versions of written by Jean Joseph Mounier from the Ball State University Digital Media Repository Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Mounier

32.
Pike (weapon)
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A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear formerly used extensively by infantry. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown, pikes were used regularly in European warfare from the early Middle Ages until around 1700, and were wielded by foot soldiers deployed in close quarters. The pike found extensive use with Landsknecht armies and Swiss mercenaries, a similar weapon, the sarissa, was also used by Alexander the Greats Macedonian phalanx infantry to great effect. Generally, a spear becomes a pike when it is too long to be wielded with one hand in combat, the pike was a long weapon, varying considerably in size, from 3 to 7.5 metres long. It was approximately 2. 5–6 kg in weight, with sixteenth-century military writer Sir John Smythe recommending lighter rather than heavier pikes and it had a wooden shaft with an iron or steel spearhead affixed. The shaft near the head was often reinforced with metal strips called cheeks or langets. When the troops of opposing armies both carried the pike, it grew in a sort of arms race, getting longer in both shaft and head length to give one sides pikemen an edge in combat. It is a mistake to refer to a bladed polearm as a pike, such weapons are more generally halberds. The great length of the pikes allowed a concentration of spearheads to be presented to the enemy, with their wielders at a greater distance. This meant that pikemen had to be equipped with an additional, shorter weapon such as a sword, mace, in general, however, pikemen attempted to avoid such disorganized combat, in which they were at a disadvantage. To compound their difficulties in a melee, the pikeman often did not have a shield, the pike, due to its unwieldy nature, was always intended to be used in a deliberate, defensive manner, often in conjunction with other missile and melee weapons. As long as it kept good order, such a formation could roll right over enemy infantry, the men were all moving forward facing in a single direction and could not turn quickly or efficiently to protect the vulnerable flanks or rear of the formation. The huge block of men carrying such unwieldy spears could be difficult to maneuver in any way other than straightforward movement, as a result, such mobile pike formations sought to have supporting troops protect their flanks or would maneuver to smash the enemy before they could be outflanked themselves. There was also the risk that the formation would become disordered, according to Sir John Smythe, there were two ways for two opposing pike formations to confront one another, cautious or aggressive. The cautious approach involved fencing at the length of the pike, while the approach involved quickly closing distance. In the aggressive approach, the first rank would then resort to swords. Smythe considered the cautious approach laughable, after the fall of the last successor of Macedon, the pike largely fell out of use for the next 1000 or so years. The one exception to this appears to have been in Germany and he consistently refers to the spears used by the Germans as being massive and very long suggesting that he is describing in essence a pike

33.
Tuileries Palace
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The Tuileries Palace was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henry IV to Napoleon III, built in 1564, it was gradually extended until it closed off the western end of the Louvre courtyard and displayed an immense façade of 266 metres. After the accidental death of Henry II of France in 1559 and she sold the medieval Hôtel des Tournelles, where her husband had died, and began building the palace of Tuileries in 1564, using architect Philibert de lOrme. The name derives from the tile kilns or tuileries which had occupied the site. The palace was formed by a range of long, narrow buildings. During the reign of Henry IV, the building was enlarged to the south, so it joined the long gallery, the Grande Galerie. During the reign of Louis XIV major changes were made to the Tuileries Palace, from 1659 to 1661 it was extended to the north by the addition of the Théâtre des Tuileries. From 1664 to 1666 the architect Louis Le Vau and his assistant François dOrbay made other significant changes, a new grand staircase was installed in the entrance of the north wing of the palace, and lavishly decorated royal apartments were constructed in the south wing. The kings rooms were on the floor, facing toward the Louvre. At the same time, Louis gardener, André Le Nôtre, the Court moved into the Tuileries Palace in November 1667, but left in 1672, and soon thereafter went to the Palace of Versailles. The Tuileries Palace was virtually abandoned and used only as a theatre, the boy-king Louis XV was moved from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace on 1 January 1716, four months after ascending to the throne. He moved back to Versailles on 15 June 1722, three months before his coronation, both moves were made at the behest of the Regent, the duc dOrléans. The king also resided at the Tuileries for short periods during the 1740s, on 6 October 1789, during the French Revolution, Louis XVI and his family were forced to leave Versailles and brought to the Tuileries where they were kept under surveillance. For the next two years the palace remained the residence of the king. The Tuileries covered riding ring, the Salle du Manège, home to the royal equestrian academy, the royal family tried to escape after dark, on 20 June 1791, but were captured at Varennes and brought back to the Tuileries. The Paris National Guard defended the King, but the daughter of King Louis XVI claimed that many of the guard were already in favor of the revolution, in November 1792, the Armoire de fer incident took place at the Tuileries palace. This was the discovery of a place at the royal apartments. The incident created a scandal that served to discredit the King

34.
Seine
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The Seine is a 777-kilometre-long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Source-Seine,30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and it is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea. There are 37 bridges within Paris and dozens more spanning the river outside the city, examples in Paris include the Pont Alexandre III and Pont Neuf, the latter of which dates back to 1607. Outside the city, examples include the Pont de Normandie, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, the Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864, a number of closely associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial grotto laid out to highlight and contain a deemed main source. The grotto includes a statue of a nymph, on the same site are the buried remains of a Gallo-Roman temple. Small statues of the dea Sequana Seine goddess and other ex voti found at the place are now exhibited in the Dijon archeological museum. The Seine is dredged and oceangoing vessels can dock at Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea, commercial riverboats can use the river from Bar-sur-Seine,560 kilometres to its mouth. At Paris, there are 37 bridges, the river is only 24 metres above sea level 446 kilometres from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable. The Seine Maritime,105.7 kilometres from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft. The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a section with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Multiple locks at Bougival / Chatou and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, upstream from Paris seven locks ensure navigation to Saint Mammès, where the Loing mouth is situated. Through an eighth lock the river Yonne is reached at Montereau-Fault-Yonne, from the mouth of the Yonne, larger ships can continue upstream to Nogent-sur-Seine. From there on, the river is only by small craft. All navigation ends abruptly at Marcilly-sur-Seine, where the ancient Canal de la Haute-Seine used to allow vessels to continue all the way to Troyes and this canal has been abandoned for many years. The average depth of the Seine today at Paris is about 9.5 metres. Until locks were installed to raise the level in the 1800s, the river was much shallower within the city most of the time, today the depth is tightly controlled and the entire width of the river between the built-up banks on either side is normally filled with water. The average flow of the river is low, only a few cubic metres per second

Louis XIV visits the Gobelins with Colbert, 15 October 1667. Tapestry from the series, "Histoire du roi" designed by Charles Le Brun and woven between 1667 and 1672. Articles of Louis XIV's silver furniture are seen in this tapestry.

A pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear formerly used extensively by infantry. Unlike many similar …

A modern recreation of a mid-17th century company of pikemen. By that period, pikemen would primarily defend their unit's musketeers from enemy cavalry.

Re-enactment during the 2009 Escalade in Geneva.

First rank with pikes at "charge for horse" static defensive posture, ready to draw swords if needed. Second rank holding their pikes at "charge" for delivering thrusts.

First rank with pikes at "charge", second rank holding pikes at "port". In real action first 3 - 4 ranks will hold their pikes at "charge" (their points projecting forward from the formation front), and those behind will hold weapons at "port" (to avoid injuring front rank friendlies with their points).